‘Royal’ Playing 11 of cricket ft. Prince Yadav, Brandon King & Nick Knight

Prince Yadav played his first IPL cricket match for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on March 24 against the Delhi Capitals (DC). The fast bowler became a talking point on social media because of his unique name, 'Prince'.

Prince means the son of a morach. He is someone who is expected to rule a kingdom after the ruling king. Many Indian cricket fans refer to Shubman Gill as the 'Prince' of Indian cricket right now. While Gill plays for the Gujarat Titans in IPL, LSG have their own Prince in Prince Yadav.

Interestingly, there have been multiple such players who share their name with a position in the royal family. Here's a playing 11 of such 'royal' cricketers.

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Openers - Nick Knight and Brandon King

Former England opener Nick Knight will open the batting for this lineup, along with West Indies' hard-hitting batter Brandon King. Nick played 17 Tests for England, scoring 719 runs in 30 innings, whereas Brandon has scored over 3,000 runs across international formats for the West Indies.

Nick's surname is Knight, which is a non-hereditary royal title given to a man for his service by the sovereign. Brandon's last name is King, which means the male ruler of an independent state.

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Middle Order - Heather Knight, Ramiz Raja, Harry Duke (wk), Queen Joseph, and Prince Balwant Rai

Another English cricketer with the second name Knight to feature on the list is women's player Heather Knight. She has appeared in 14 Tests, 149 ODIs, and 129 T20Is for England, helping the team win several matches with her all-round brilliance.

Former Pakistan batter Ramiz Raja will join Knight in the middle order. The word 'Raja' means King in Hindi. Raja scored over 10,000 runs in first-class cricket. He now works as a commentator.

Keeping the wickets for this royal XI will be England's upcoming star Harry Duke. The youngster recently scored a doubleton for Yorkshire's 2nd XI. The word Duke is for the male holding the highest heriditary title in the British peerage.

Nigeria's U-19 star Queen Joseph will provide balance to this team with her all-round skills. The women's player named 'Queen', which means the female ruler of an independent state, can bat in the middle-order and bowl medium pace.

Another Indian cricketer named 'Prince' to feature on the list is Prince Balwant Rai. He is a bowling all-rounder who has been a part of the Mumbai Indians (MI) team in the IPL.

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Bowlers - Dolly Rani, Christopher King, Prince Yadav, and Prince Pal

Bangladesh's bowling all-rounder Dolly Rani bat at number eight for this team. Dolly is a right-arm bowler, whose last name 'Rani' means Queen in Hindi. Joining her in the team will be South Africa's fast bowler Christopher King. He recently played with Brandon King for the Durban Super Giants in SA20.

Completing this 'royal' XI will be two bowlers with the name 'Prince'. The first is Prince Yadav, who made his debu for LSG in their IPL 2025 match against Delhi Capitals in Vizag. Joining him will be Nepal's U-19 star Prince Pal, who bowls slow left-arm. Pal recently took a three-wicket haul for his domestic team Butwal.